Belper Police
Posted Sunday, May 28, 2006
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On a cool day, warmed by the occasional sunny spell, Sunseekers narrowly lost out to a team of 12 players. Magnanimously, it was agreed that the extra man would play, the extra man having made the effort to turn up. So it was against the odds from the start.
What seemed like an endless supply of batsmen came to the crease
We started well enough, losing only two wickets before the score reached double figures. Wenny continued with his poor start to the season followed by Jim Taylor, who was bowled by a ball that did not bounce at all - he had no chance. Woodward and Coulthurst steadied the ship for a while, with Coulthurst surviving several partners to make a very useful 38, the other main contributor was Will Evans (sorry Will, I don't have the scorebook and I don't remember what you scored) and we ended up with something reasonably respectable over 100.
The Police team started steadily, struggling to put Will and Fred away to the boundary. The game looked as if it would be close until Jim Downes come on. In another of the famed 'Downes Inspired Bowling Spells' he grabbed 4 wickets for 21, turning the game well in our favour. The Police team then dug in and had a couple of good partnerships, one guy thrashing the otherwise very economical Fred for several boundaries from one over, Fred was not bowling badly, the batsman just went for everything. Their youngster deserves a mention, he had previously bowled well, and then showed he could also bat, stylish, keeping Sunseekers finest out for quite a while, whilst the score ticked over.
What seemed like an endless supply of batsmen came to the crease and the game gradually swung in the favour of the Police. Scores were eventually level, we needed a wicket to tie the game, Bennett came into bowl and the ball was dollied straight back to him. No 'Oh Yessss' this time, just the drop. Hard lines Bri, but a good effort (Brian informs me that I was wrong about it being a dolly, apparently the ball was travelling like a bullet, spinning ferociously, swinging, bobbling etc. etc. ... super shot.)
Anyway, it was a really enjoyable day, the Belper Police guys are a great bunch and we enjoyed drinking, totty watching (instigated by guess which soon to be 60 Sunseeker) and observing bizarre driving in the pub car park with them after the match. We still claim a moral victory though ...
Champagne moment for me came as we were about to leave, Fred asked BB if he had tried his usual chat up lines with the attractive young barmaid as she came out to collect our glasses. That was it, he swung into action and showed the younger guys how it was done. Brian, you were magnificent! Utterly brilliant, hey, I'll tell you what ...
